A Seat in St James's Park, by George John Pinwell (1842-1875). Watercolour and gouache over graphite on paper; 16½ x 23¾ inches (41.9 x 60.2 cm). Collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, accession no. 1115. [Click on all the images to enlarge them.]
This watercolour is a contemporary rendering of a busy scene in St. James's Park. On a bench to the right sits a soldier talking to a pretty young nursemaid, an elderly man with a cane who has fallen on hard times is in the centre, while to the left is a mother next to her son wearing a kilt and tam o' shanter who is leaning against the bench. These last two are musicians, the mother with a violin and the son a tambourine. In front of the bench is a young girl with a toddler in a pram who the nursemaid has obviously brought to the park and is now ignoring. Other people can be seen entering the park or walking behind the bench. To the far right in the midground are two women, one holding the hand of a boy, gathered around what appears to be a laundry basket. A gate in a fence, some trees, of which only the trunks are visible, and buildings are visible in the background.
The watercolour was exhibited at the Old Water-Colour Society in 1869, no. 297, shortly after Pinwell's election as an Associate. It was later shown at the Pinwell memorial exhibition held at Deschamps' Gallery, London, in 1876, no. 35. It is now considered one of Pinwell's most important works and was extensively reviewed when shown at the O.W.S. The Pall Mall Gazette called Pinwell's first exhibits at this venue a remarkable first appearance: "A very remarkable first appearance is made by Mr. Pinwell, who sends three small figure subjects, marked by the most delicate sense both of character and beauty. Mr. Pinwell's inspiration is a good deal akin to that of Mr. F. Walker; neither in drawing nor in composition is he yet as strong as Mr. Walker, or near it; but he has the same exquisite art of bringing common folks and their children to look beautiful without transgressing the truth of nature. Thus the half-dozen Londoners – soldier, nursemaid, gentleman, street player, and child – whom he has collected in a casual group on a seat in St. James's Park, have each a genuine individual character which everyone must recognize, as well as a genuine pictorial nobility to be recognized by those who are sensitive to such things" (11).
The reviewer for The Architect found the work full of character and expression: "Mr. Walker's absence from this year's show is a great loss; his place is occupied, but not filled by Mr. G. J. Pinwell, a very rising artist, first brought into notice at the Dudley Gallery, and to whose many clever and striking works the only drawback is a certain resemblance to that of Mr. Walker. There is, however, quite enough of the original stuff in Mr. Pinwell to encourage the opinion that he will become one of our most distinguished figure draughtsmen, as anyone who examines these careful little pictures may see. One is A Seat at St. James's Park (297), the weakest of the three, but full of character and expression" (234). The critic for The Art Journal congratulated Pinwell on his election as an Associate to the O.W.S. and commented: "In the accidental absence of Mr. Walker, this newcomer does special service. Drawings, such as The Pied Piper of Hamlin and A Seat in St. James's Park possess many of the qualities which have gained for Mr. Walker distinction. The last is the best and least eccentric: as a study of character it is individual and true; and notwithstanding detail which may be distracting, and the lavish use of opaque colour which is certainly somewhat crude and repellent, the picture is well brought into tone and unity, and made on the whole not otherwise than agreeable. The talents of Mr. Pinwell obtained early recognition in our columns, and we are glad to be able to congratulate the artist on his speedy and well-merited reward" (173).
F. G. Stephens in The Athenaeum decried the bad habits Pinwell had picked up as an illustrator for wood engravings: "The drawings of Mr. Pinwell, the latest elected Member of the society, show the injurious results of large practice in drawing in the modern mode for book-illustrations and upon wood. They are almost without depth or clearness, and two of them are defective in respect to a certain scratchy manner, which, although popular and customary in 'illustrations,' is not desirable in pictures… A third drawing is pictorially more successful, but still so flimsy that, without the artist's sternness in studies, his very dexterity will betray him. This work is called A Seat in St. James's Park (297), and represents a young nurse flirting with a soldier, a moody gentleman who is out at elbows, a poor woman-violinist, and her son, a tambourine-player" (643).
The Builder admired the work's delicate but precise finish: "Mr. G. J. Pinwell, another new associate, in addition to a couple of quaint illustrations from Mr. Browning's Pied Piper of Hamlin (260), and (282), has a very choice drawing of some such group as may be frequently discerned on 'A Seat in St. James's Park' (297). The itinerant musician counting her scanty gains; the poor gentleman, born to disappointment, whose life has been a gradual decline from what he was to what he is, with no other reflection for consolation but the one - that in great measure he has to thank himself for it; the captivating life-guardsmen and the captivated life-guardian of perambulatory and toddling treasures of a fatuous mama, who thinks Jane has no followers, and children, the least foolish of the party, since they have not arrived at that age when the foolish think themselves wise, - are some of the individualities the artist has depicted with some approach to the delicate but precise finish of Mr. J. F. Lewis" (361).
The Spectator found the treatment of this watercolour uninteresting: "Of Mr. Pinwell's three drawings, 'A Seat in St. James's Park' (297), is a medley of character and circumstances commonly enough seen in that locality. It is a somewhat trite subject, and in the present instance, though the workmanship is good, there is little to interest in the treatment" (567). It is therefore of interest to read the comments of a reviewer for The Spectator seven years later when this watercolour was featured at the memorial exhibition of Pinwell's work held at Deschamps' Gallery in 1876: "No. 35, 'A Seat in St. James's Park,' is probably the best known of all the artist's exhibited works. It was the first drawing of Pinwell's that was shown at the Society of Painters in Water-Colours, and was at the time a very great favourite. In it we have all this painter's numerous excellences, with but few of his faults. The colour is quiet and unexaggerated to high degree, the grouping and drawing of the figures most excellent, but the great merit of the picture is its dramatic intensity, and its masterly contrast of the pathetic and the humorous. A lifeguardsman and attendant nurserymaid, with her neglected child, occupy one end of the seat, while at the other sits a woman with downcast head, and between them a broken-down roué, with untrimmed beard and hat thrust over his eyes. There is no forced sentiment about the picture, it is simply one that you might chance to see yourself any fine morning; but it is treated with so much genuine feelings and true sympathy, that it would be difficult to find a more pathetic composition" (274).
The reviewer for The Illustrated London News particularly liked Pinwell's character study of the elderly man: "Mr. G. T. [sic] Pinwell, one of the new Associates, we must speak with hesitation. His drawings will always have great redeeming merit as long as he puts so much character and expression into his figures as he has done into the face of the dilapidated swell, ruminating over his broken fortunes on 'A Seat in St. James's Park' (474).
When this work was shown at the memorial exhibition of Pinwell's work at Mr. Deschamps' Gallery in 1876 a critic for Judy considered it to be Pinwell's most complete work: "We have not space to notice all we could wish, but call attention to 'New Books' (32), and his most complete work, perhaps, 'A Seat in St. James's Park' (35) which shows all his fine points. Look at the battered worn-out man in the centre, once, and perhaps still, a gentleman; he has seen many 'ups and downs' in life's path; what other artist has painted such a bit of character as this? Then the soldier, the nursemaid – both good – the street musicians – look at the careworn women, and you will feel an irresistible desire to put something in the tambourine; all that is gloomy in the picture leavened by the lovely little lady in front" (193).
Left: A Seat in St. James's Park, London,1869 Watercolour and gouache over graphite on paper; 16½ x 23¾ inches (41.9 x 60.2 cm). Right: A Seat in St. James’s Park, London, 1870 Wood engraving by Joseph Swain after G. J. Pinwell; 9 x 1115/16 inches (22.8 x 30.2 cm) – image size.
The importance Pinwell placed on this particular watercolour can be seen by the number of extant studies for the composition. A charcoal study for the entire composition is in the University of Dundee Fine Art Collections, accession no. DUNUC ARTS:121. A study in black chalk for figures on, and gathered around the bench, is in the British Museum, accession no. PD 1905,1110.74. A relatively finished watercolour and gouache study for the composition is in the collection of the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, accession no. LL 10334. Another similar, but not quite so finished study, is The Higgins Bedford, accession no. P.128. A loose watercolour study for figures on the bench is in the collection of the Royal Watercolour Society in London, accession no. PO278. An unpublished wood engraving by Swain is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, accession no. E.281A-1906, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, accession no. 53.1991.
Bibliography
"Art. The Pinwell Gallery." The Spectator XLIX (February 26, 1876): 274-75.
"Art. The Water-Colour Society." The Spectator XLII (May 8, 1869): 567-68.
Esposito, Donato. Frederick Walker and the Idyllists. London: Lund Humphries, 2017. 20, 69-71, 81-82, 89.
"Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water Colours." The Architect. I (1 May 1869): 233-34.
Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water Colours." The Illustrated London News. LIV (3 May 1869): 471-74.
"Pinwell's Pictures." Judy. XVIII (23 February 1876): 193.
"Society of Painters in Water-Colours." The Art Journal. New Series V (1 June 1869): 173-74.
"Society of Painters in Water-Colours." The Builder. XXVII (8 May 1869): 360-61.
Stephens, Frederic George. "Society of Painters in Water Colours." The Athenaeum. No. 2167 (8 May 1869): 643-44.
"The Water-Colour Exhibitions." Pall Mall Gazette. No. 1374 (8 July 1869): 11-12.
Williamson, George C. George J. Pinwell and His Works. London: George Bell & Sons, 1900. 19 and 77.
Created 14 May 2023